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T O P I C R E V I E W
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littlefish
Member # 966
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 posted June 14, 2012 17:48
The new crop of macs had me thinking about what I want from my computer. They don't really have me drooling, but I could do with an upgrade.
I have a core 2 duo macbook, and I'm wondering if an SSD would give me a bit more pep, or if I'd be better off getting a new macbook air. I'd like a retina display, but 15" is just too big for my tastes.
So, should I get an SSD (£80 for 128 GB) or is my computing more likely constrained by my processor?
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dragonman97
Member # 780
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posted June 14, 2012 19:16
lf: A laptop HD is almost inherently slow, and will definitely introduce some lag on random access of a lot of data. That means app loading time might be sluggish on a 4200/5400 RPM drive, but might be extremely quick on SSD.
Once you go beyond starting up apps, it's really all about CPU and RAM. If you don't have enough RAM, things get swapped out to HD, and you hit the aforementioned bottleneck. SSD isn't going to help you as much there, as its write times aren't so great. The C2D is a pretty good CPU, so you're probably not going to have that much of a slowdown there.
I can't honestly say whether my MBP is much faster than my C2D MB - but I'm not a gamer. Also, my employer did the upgrade for me, so apart from getting around certain 10.7 annoyances, it's just another laptop. The thing I like the most about the MBP is the lighter weight and thinner profile.
Speaking of weight and SSD, I have to admit the MB Air is becoming increasingly tempting to me. If not for the fact that my personal laptop is less than 2 years old, I would seriously consider getting one. It's basically almost as good as a MBP, but much lighter. This is contrast to many netbooks, which are too small, and dramatically inferior to normal laptops. I have to play with them some more at an Apple Store some time to gauge whether the 11" model would suit me alright vs. the 13". If the 11" is just as good, I might very well get one some day - it would beat the pants off schlepping a regular laptop when traveling.
BTW, interesting piece of info. I heard the other day about SSD: Never write anything confidential to it, as it may never be properly erased. To compensate for write-cycle issues inherent to SSD, the controller chip plays fancy tricks to avoid unnecessary writes, including marking sectors as empty when they're anything but. :/ Moral of the story: Use TrueCrypt, FileVault, or encrypted DMGs from day one if you run SSD...at least for stuff you don't want anyone to get a hold of.
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littlefish
Member # 966
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posted June 15, 2012 01:58
Thanks for the input. I'm surprised that you say that the SSD will not help too much with swap speed. I've only got 2 GB RAM, and thought it would help me out.
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macmcseboy
Member # 1232
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posted June 15, 2012 03:12
Worried about SSD security? RunCore has you covered! http://www.legitreviews.com/news/13149/
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dragonman97
Member # 780
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posted June 15, 2012 20:01
quote:
Originally posted by macmcseboy:
Worried about SSD security? RunCore has you covered! http://www.legitreviews.com/news/13149/
I want the last 4 minutes of my life back. ![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
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The Famous Druid
Member # 1769
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posted June 15, 2012 20:20
quote:
Originally posted by dragonman97:
BTW, interesting piece of info. I heard the other day about SSD: Never write anything confidential to it, as it may never be properly erased. To compensate for write-cycle issues inherent to SSD, the controller chip plays fancy tricks to avoid unnecessary writes, including marking sectors as empty when they're anything but. :/ Moral of the story: Use TrueCrypt, FileVault, or encrypted DMGs from day one if you run SSD...at least for stuff you don't want anyone to get a hold of.
This is also good advice for traditional hard disks on laptops. If you carry it around, there's always a risk of it being lost or stolen, so keep all your confidential info encrypted.
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The Famous Druid
Member # 1769
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posted June 16, 2012 21:18
Another (possibly best-of-both-worlds) option is a hybrid drive.
Basically a small (eg 8GB) SSD packaged with a traditional hard disk and smart controller, the controller keeps usage stats, and caches the most-used sectors in the SSD.
If you're lucky, this can mean all of the basic OS files and your favourite apps fit in the SSD, giving you the fast boot and app load times of a SSD, with the large total space of a traditional hard drive.
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dragonman97
Member # 780
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posted June 17, 2012 00:36
And...it's probably a good deal cheaper.
Still, the true purpose of this post is to tip my hat to your awesome .sig! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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